Skype for Business Partner Resources – Now Available

We are excited to announce that the technical preview of the Skype for Business client is available today. Skype for Business combines a familiar Skype-inspired experience, an expanded Lync feature set, and the ability to search for and connect with any of the hundreds of million people who use Skype. The technical preview gives current Lync customers the opportunity to trial the Skype for Business client before the client, server and online service become generally available starting in April.

What this means for partnersAvailability of the Skype for Business technical preview provides the opportunity for you to start working with your customers in finalizing Lync deployments and to begin planning Skype for Business implementations.

Partner call to actionNow that the technical preview of Skype for Business is available, we recommend that you:

What is the message to customers?With Skype for Business becoming generally available in April, now is the time to start planning deployment. Most of the existing software and hardware solutions that are qualified for Lync 2013 will also be compatible with Skype for Business. As a result, current Lync customers can get quickly up and running with Skype for Business, leveraging their existing investments. Stay tuned – we'll be sharing more on the future for Skype for Business later this week at Enterprise Connect.